Site icon FlyMarshall

Congressional Report on Operation Epic Fury Lists 42 U.S. Aircraft Damaged or Destroyed

FlyMarshall Newsroom

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has attempted to collate a report of U.S. aircraft losses during the Iran War, though there are some notable omissions. 

An independent report produced for the U.S. Congress, which should be stressed is independent of the Department of Defense (DoD) and without access to information beyond what is publicly available, has attempted to catalogue all known instances of U.S. military aircraft being damaged or destroyed as a result of Operation Epic Fury. This includes aircraft lost to enemy action as well as to other incidents. 

In total, the CRS lists 42 airframes lost or damaged, all of which were previously known. It includes 24 MQ-9 Reapers, 7 KC-135 Stratotankers, 4 F-15E Strike Eagles, 2 MC-130J Commando II, and one incident each involving an E-3 Sentry, F-35A Lightning II, A-10 Thunderbolt II, HH-60W Jolly Green II, and an MQ-4C Triton. 

However, there are some aspects to this report where some known details have apparently been missed. The most notable is arguably the listing of a single E-3 Sentry as ‘damaged’. There are indeed reports that at least one E-3 Sentry suffered damaged on the ground during Iranian missile and drone attacks against U.S. forward bases in the Middle East, but it is also known that at least one E-3 was in fact totally destroyed. 

The report also omits the known intentional destruction of as many as four MH-6 Little Bird helicopters belonging to the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) during the same combat search and rescue (CSAR) where the two listed MC-130J Commando IIs were intentionally destroyed after becoming stuck at an austere airstrip.

Deep inside Iranian territory, with these special operations transport aircraft destroyed, the MH-6s had no other way to exit the country and their burned out remains were subsequently seen alongside those of the MC-130s.

Since the losses of these helicopters were well reported – including by mainstream outlets like ABC News – it’s not clear whether these aircraft were missed from the list due to an oversight or whether they were intentionally overlooked. In theory, as an independent report without DoD input and compiled with the pure intent simply to provide lawmakers with an objective, succinct overview, there should not be any reason for the intentional omission of a publicly reported loss like this. 

The listing of a single HH-60W damaged is also fewer than many reports have stated, although it is much more difficult to be certain about these due to the lack of availability of clear evidence. Some claims report two UH-60 Black Hawks were damaged during the CSAR mission, though this is more likely to be two HH-60Ws – which are based on the UH-60.

The lead helicopter in the mission, carrying the rescued pilot, was said by General Dan Caine – Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff – to have been targeted by small arms fire, but the second HH-60W in the flight trailing behind was specifically noted as having taken fire to the point of a crew member inside suffering a ‘minor injury’.

It may have been the case that both of these helicopters were physically damaged but damage on the lead aircraft was limited to superficial scars while on the trailing aircraft the injury to a crew member might indicate it received a larger number of hits. 

The total picture of aircraft losses and damages during Operation Epic Fury is likely still a long way off being close to fully clear, and, if we never receive a public account from the DoD, tracing them might only be possible through analysis of aircraft serial numbers as they eventually return to the U.S. or its overseas bases.

Of course, there is also the strong possibility that we may never know about potential losses or damages to classified assets in theatre. The ‘RQ-180’ that we know has been operational during the war, though in exactly what capacity and where is unknown, is almost certainly only one of many secret platforms in play.


source

Exit mobile version